scholarly journals Post exposure prophylaxis for occupational and non occupational exposure to HIV in a tertiary care hospital in central Nepal

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 34-37
Author(s):  
Rakshya Shrestha ◽  
Sashi Sharma ◽  
Prem Khadga ◽  
Matina Sayami ◽  
Uma Chitrakar ◽  
...  

Introduction: Post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to HIV is the short term use of prescribed dose of antiretroviral therapy among persons exposed to high risk behaviors in order to prevent them from HIV infection. While occupationally exposed cases among health care workers are the major target of PEP, it is equally applicable to non occupational exposure to HIV including sexually exposed cases. This study was carried out to know the current scenario of PEP for HIV in terms of various determinants/ risk factors and outcomes of HIV positivity after prophylaxis. Methods: A prospective study was carried out by Antiretroviral therapy center of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. The study period was between August 2006 and September 2016. Altogether 50 cases exposed to known HIV seropositive persons were included in this study. Results: The majority of the occupationally exposures were interns (48.6%), followed by staff nurse (18.9%), CMLT student (13.5%), hospital staff (10.8%) and resident doctor (8.1%). Majority (70.3%) were exposed to needle prick injury. Six-month follow-up showed zero seroconversion for HIV ELISA among the exposed cases. Conclusion: Intern constituted the greater proportion of health care workers exposed to accidental needle stick injury. Timely administration of prophylaxis might have resulted zero seroconversion for HIV ELISA among the exposed cases.

Author(s):  
Henry Chika Onuoha ◽  
Maduka Omosivie

Background: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is one of the world's top causes of death. New HIV infections emerge every day, leading HIV patients to seek care at health facilities and prompting health care professionals to undertake risky invasive procedures. And notwithstanding the mediation of science, this poses a risk of occupational exposure among health care workers (HCWs), hence the need for the effective use of HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and utilization of PEP among health care workers at HIV treatment centers in Port-Harcourt metropolis. Methodology: This descriptive cross-sectional study utilized a pre-tested, structured, self-administered questionnaire on a sample of 204 HCWs chosen by multi-stage sampling method. Data were analyzed and presented using descriptive and analytical statistics. Results: The study revealed that 39.7% of the respondents had good knowledge of HIV PEP and 96.5% had good attitude towards HIV PEP. Additionally, 22.1% had previously encountered possible occupational exposure to HIV, and only 45.5% of them took PEP. This translates to an overall PEP use of 10.1%. Significant associations were observed between knowledge and attitude towards PEP (p=<0.001), source of information and knowledge (p=<0.001), and source of information and attitude (p=0.02). The study also showed that sex, marital status and designation was associated with utilization of PEP (p=0.01; p=0.04; p=0.02). Conclusion: The study revealed low utilization of PEP despite the level of good and fair knowledge and a generally positive attitude towards PEP. There exists a gap between knowledge and utilization of PEP, hence the need for periodical retraining of HCWs. This should be supplemented by ensuring the consistent availability and accessibility of PEP at treatment centers.


The Lancet ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 331 (8583) ◽  
pp. 481 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.R. Meylan ◽  
P. Francioli ◽  
H. Decrey ◽  
J.Ph. Chave ◽  
M.P. Glauser

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